I’m currently living in a conundrum that I think many of us in our late 20s can relate to: Save vs. Spend. There is a balancing act and we all have to live somewhere between the two but I’m constantly trying to figure out where to land on that scale. Here are my arguments for leaning one way or another and some tricks I’ve learned along the way.
Save:
My husband and I really really REALLY want to buy a house outside of the city in the next 2-3 years and start thinking about starting a family. That being said, we both like nice things and beautiful surroundings so I can assure you, we won’t want to settle for anything less than perfect. It seems like that might be easy enough but when you add up down payments, closing fees, moving costs, and interior updates, it comes out to an astronomical amount of money that we can’t just pull out of a hat.
We’ve figured out how much we need to save each month in order to make this dream a reality. Seems simple enough right?
Spend:
On the other hand, we’re living in Manhattan, the most exciting city on earth and we want to take advantage of and enjoy it. For our sanity and furthering our relationship we love to eat out and take trips together to keep us from burning out (we both work way too hard!).
Health and wellness is a huge part of our life so spending extra money on organic produce and truly nourishing and whole foods isn’t cheap.
We live in a small apartment so keeping it clean, warm and welcoming makes us feel more comfortable and at home. Something that is very important to both of us. That upkeep costs a lot as well.
My Tips:
What I’ve learned so far in this process is that you can get excited about saving all you want, but it’s really hard when push comes to shove in making those day to day decisions. I continue to come back to these 4 tips to stay on track. I hope that they help you as well!
1. Automatically Save. Have a set amount that you put away each month, no matter what. You can have your employer directly deposit a specific amount or percentage from each paycheck into a separate savings account or, like us, you can transfer a certain amount each month, as soon as you get paid. Now I don’t even think of that money as a part of our income because I don’t see it in my checking account for more than a day. It doesn’t matter what we have going on, we always save this.
2. Set a budget. Ugh budgets are the worst, right? But they’re necessary if you’re trying to do any life planning! We keep ours super loose so that we don’t feel stressed and constrained, but we stay on track because it’s always in our minds. Mint.com has been an awesome and helpful tool for doing this. It automatically links to all of your accounts and credit cards so you have to do minimal work.
3. No impulse purchases! I was forced into learning this one last year when I wasn’t working because we simply couldn’t afford to make impulse purchases. Now, for each big purchase that I want to make (new rug, booking a vacation, fancy dinner out), I try to think, “Do I want this as much as I want to be living in a nice comfy house in the near future?” I also let myself think about it for a day to make sure that it’s something that I really want. I apply this to all purchases over $100.
4. Live your life. Money is something that almost everyone stresses about, regardless of how much of it we have. At a certain point you just have to live and not worry all the time. If I want a manicure, you better believe I’m going to buy myself a manicure. Maybe I won’t add on an extra 10 minute massage but treating yourself and living a happy life RIGHT NOW is just as important as planning for your future.
I love this, Julia! Great tips 🙂
Yay so glad you liked! xx
I agree that its very hard day-to-day to figure this out. Im in the midst of a similar struggle and this was helpful, thank you!
Great tips! I definitely struggle with this. It’s nice to see I’m not alone!
Amy
withallthebellsandwhistles.wordpress.com
definitely a post worth reading! I am getting married in May and we are working with budgeting right now. Thanks for the tips!
Weddings are super hard because you also want to spend a lot on every detail. I hope this helps with that!
I love this post, as this issue has been on my mind a lot lately. I’ve always had money automatically going into retirement savings, but I’ve recently realized that that’s really not enough. If I want to save for big purchases, even stuff like a new computer, or an apartment in the future, I need to start saving real amounts of money. I love your tips, especially the last two. Saving is important but you still have to live (especially in a place like NYC). I’m absolutely horrible at budgeting, so I might look into Mint.com. Thanks!
Mint is the best. I’m also SO bad at budgeting and it helped me so much. Good luck!
Thanks for this! My goal for the new year is to start saving more, but it’s really hard sometimes to balance things like eating out with friends and shopping(!) with more long-term goals. This was great encouragement.
So glad that this helped! So glad to know I’m not the only one who has trouble with this.
Loved this post! While it’s fun to follow pretty pictures and fashion trends in the blog world, it’s posts like this that are really constructive and good reminders for a happy, balanced life. Thank you! 🙂
Amen, lady! Sometimes, we just have to get real 🙂
Yes!! Sometimes it seems like fashion blogs can encourage you to spend spend spend (…money you don’t even have!) so this post is so important!
This is such a great post! I just started my career in September after a few long years of grad school, and, now that I’m FINALLY making money, I just want to spend spend spend!! My New Years resolution was to start saving so when payday comes this Friday I’ll be putting aside money for the first time. I’m not thrilled about it, but I know it will help me achieve my future goals of a trip to Europe and paying off credit card debt! Thanks for the tips!
Kaitlin
http://www.teaandsequins.com
Another great post- love hearing your everyday life tips. You strike a great balance between being kind to yourself while also being smart and not wasting time. Sometimes, in a sea of blog posts about fashion, makeup and the newest restaurant here in Manhattan, we need a good post like this one (or your one about a personal day) to bring us back to real life!
Great tips! You have some great ideas!
It’s hard to navigate especially in a city with such great shopping!
Fashionable Hostess
http://www.fashionablehostess.com/
Awesome post!
Great post!Very useful tips..
Love this! My husband are trying to buy a house and this is so helpful!
Hey Julia!! I remembered this post from last year, and for 2015 one of my goals is to be more careful with my finances, so I went back to this and now I’ve been using Minted. Thank you for killing it!! (: